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A review by stephanieluxton
On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women by Stevie Cameron
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
I don't know how to rate this book because I didn't really enjoy it, but it is incredibly well researched so I can't give it a bad review.
The writing was good but I found this book to be a little too thorough with the facts. I feel like a jerk for saying that learning the backstories of all these missing woman pulled me out of the greater story, but it did. I know these woman are gone now and their stories deserve to be heard but this book was LONG. And almsot all the missing women have very similar sad life stories that involve them running on hard times, facing addiction, and turning to prostitution - all while having family members who loved them but didn't know how to help them. I found myself getting confused and not being able to remember which girl was which when names were brought up later in the story.
I also know it's important to document in the book how the police force totally failed these women and their families and how much of a shit show the investigation was, but again, the book was so long.
Some of it was quite repetitive at times. Some stories were told more than once. I foudn myself skipping sections as I was reading.
The things I was most interested in was Willie's backstory, what happened to the women, and the stories from the women who were close to him and the ones who got away. I would have loved a more condensed version of this book.
However, I am sure many people love the author's meticulous attention to detail. I appreciate the effort that went into it. It just wasn't for me.
The writing was good but I found this book to be a little too thorough with the facts. I feel like a jerk for saying that learning the backstories of all these missing woman pulled me out of the greater story, but it did. I know these woman are gone now and their stories deserve to be heard but this book was LONG. And almsot all the missing women have very similar sad life stories that involve them running on hard times, facing addiction, and turning to prostitution - all while having family members who loved them but didn't know how to help them. I found myself getting confused and not being able to remember which girl was which when names were brought up later in the story.
I also know it's important to document in the book how the police force totally failed these women and their families and how much of a shit show the investigation was, but again, the book was so long.
Some of it was quite repetitive at times. Some stories were told more than once. I foudn myself skipping sections as I was reading.
The things I was most interested in was Willie's backstory, what happened to the women, and the stories from the women who were close to him and the ones who got away. I would have loved a more condensed version of this book.
However, I am sure many people love the author's meticulous attention to detail. I appreciate the effort that went into it. It just wasn't for me.